BBC goes on network Patrol

NEWS The BBC is to use BMC Software's Patrol network management product to monitor 800 distributed systems across the UK. The broadcaster is standardising on the software after using a variety of competing products. Patrol will be used to manage applications running on NT, Solaris, HP-UX, and NetWare. The BBC said BMC's ability to port the software to Linux was a key factor in its favour. The contract is part of a five-year commitment by the broadcaster to use BMC products and support. A value has not been put on the Patrol deal, although a BMC spokesman described it as "considerable".